BJP and Congress accuse each other for hiring Cambridge Analytics

IT Minister Prasad warns Zuckerberg

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party on Wednesday indulged in some trenchant name calling, that matched their current slugfest in the virtual world, over who among the two has used the services of Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm under probe for using data of millions of Facebook users without their consent for influencing the US presidential election.

The BJP and the Congress pointed a finger at each other, with Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warning Facebook, and other social media sites, of tough action if they attempted to influence elections in India. Prasad threatened Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of being summoned to India for questioning for violating the IT Act.

Prasad said the Congress party has "especially got Cambridge Analytica to India to work for its campaign." He said the Cambridge Analytica is helping relaunch Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

That the controversy has more to do with BJP and Congress rivalry in the cyberspace, and the Congress of late matching the BJP blow for blow, was evident with BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya's tweet. "All of you who complained about the surge in anti-BJP and anti-government messages and fake news in recent days on social media, now know who was behind it - an insidious Cambridge Analytica, hired by a desperate Congress!" Malviya tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the minister's allegations "a pack of lies". He said the Congress has never used the services of Cambridge Analytica. He said this was BJP's attempt to divert attention from families of 39 Indian workers killed in Mosul, Iraq, demanding answers, and running away from questions on the bank fraud case.

Surjewala said the Prime Minister's Office, along with Information and Broadcasting Ministry, is trying to muzzle the voice of the media by instructing media outlets to run the news about Cambridge Analytics. Surjewala showed a picture from the website of Cambridge Analytica, capolitical.com, where it states that the Janata Dal (United) and BJP used their services of Cambridge Analytica "to undertake an in-depth electorate analysis for the Bihar Assembly Elections in 2010."

The Congress spokesperson said the Indian partner of Cambridge Analytica is Ovelina Business Intelligence (OBI), which is run by the son of a JD (U) leader. Former JD (U) MP KC Tyagi's son Amrish Tyagi runs OBI. Surjewala said OBI helped current Home Minister Rajnath Singh in 2009.

The Congress leader also showed the Linkedin profile of Himanshu Sharma, vice president of OBI, who has claimed to have managed four election campaigns successfully for the BJP. In his profile, Sharma has stated that he managed BJP's 272+ campaign in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.

Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had become the first Indian prime minister to visit the Facebook headquarters and had described Zuckerberg and himself as brothers. Surjewala alleged that APCO, a Germany company, had handled Modi's campaigns when he was in Gujarat. He said the company also handles campaigns for Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and Kazakhstan's President for life Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The data breach at Facebook is under probe by US privacy watchdog and British lawmakers. IT Minister Prasad said the government fully supported freedom of press, speech and expression and also a free exchange of ideas on social media but any attempt by social media sites to influence India's electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated.

The minister said about 200 million Indians use Facebook, making it the largest base of the social media giant outside US and any kind of data theft will not be tolerated. "Mr. Mark Zuckerberg you better note the observation of the IT Minister of India. We welcome the FB profile in India, but if any data theft of Indians is done through the collusion of FB system, it shall not be tolerated. We have got stringent power in the IT Act, we shall use it, including summoning you in India," the Minister said.

This is the second time when a standoff between Indian authorities and Facebook has emerged. Earlier, the US based social media giant was rebuked by regulator Trai for its Free Basics programme. The programme was banned in India as it violated net neutrality. The latest warning to Facebook draws importance as social media is now being used extensively by political parties to sway voters.